Stephen Mayotte

Steve started flying near the peak of the general aviation boom (1979). Back then, his $4.12 hourly wage matched up nicely with a $13 per hour (wet) brand new Cessna 150M and a $5 per hour (ex-Air Force C-130) instructor. He now owns and flies a bicentennial Cessna 172M that’s equipped with amazing gadgets that would have been utterly inconceivable to the post-Apollo era builders. Steve lives in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and flies out of Nashua, New Hampshire’s Boire Field. Harvey Stovall would have described him as “a bit too frank”.

For my 80th Angel Flight, the MVFR forecast turned into reality, but out over the water, it was even lower than advertised. I was in the clear at 1500 feet, but “clear” was all relative. There was nothing to see. No horizon. No water. Nothing at all, really. “JFK, Jr.” type conditions.

This was a big one. Number one hundred. I didn’t want a milk run. I wanted something memorable. I got my wish. Let’s start with the BIG numbers— my 100 flights add up to 33,003 NM and 400.9 hours in 11 years and a month. Number 100 was for Jane Hards.

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Air Facts was first published in 1938 by Leighton Collins, dedicated to “the development of private air transportation.” It’s a different world now, and it’s a different Air Facts. Relaunched in 2011 as an online journal, Air Facts still champions, educates, informs and entertains pilots worldwide with real-world flying experiences.

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